Got my first PlayStation since the PS2

[SuperHans]

Finally managed to get my hands on a PS5 after weeks of trying to get one. The last PlayStation I owned was a PS2 and the last game I bought on it was Metal Gear Solid 3, which depressingly is over 16 years ago. Since then I had been a PC and Nintendo only owner. So I have a lot of catching up to do on Sony exclusives.

Some thoughts on my first day with it.

Pro's
- The controller is excellent. It has a great weight to it. Earlier PS controllers were very light which I hated. The vibration is really cool and Astrobot does a great job of showcasing this when its raining.
- Which leads to Astrobot itself. What a great game, really hitting me in the nostalgia gland with the collectable artifacts for the PS1. The game has a real Mario vibe about it and really demonstrates all of the capabilities of the controller. Looking forward to playing more of this today.
- The PS Plus Collection is great value since I have played none of the exclusives on there. Looking forward to Bloodborne, Uncharted 4, God of War, The last of Us, and The last Guardian.

Con's
- Trying to create my account on PSN was an absolute chore. The form kept timing out and giving 503 errors as I was filling it out. Not sure if there were just some issues with PSN yesterday or that is what its always like. I also had issues trying to buy stuff initially due to region mismatch. Apparently I had a PS account linked to my email that was created 8 years ago (I have no idea why I had this) when I lived in Ireland. I contacted support to change it but they told me it wasn't possible and just closed the chat abruptly. So instead I had to create a new email account and start the whole thing over again.
- The console is massive and ugly (IMO) and wont fit in my TV unit. Thankfully I managed to hide it behind the TV.

Questions
Can I skip straight to Uncharted 4 or will I need to play 1-3? Same with God of War?
What's a good game to play with my wife who is not a gamer? I need to get her on board with the purchase :)

 

[ClickyCal']

Can I skip straight to Uncharted 4 or will I need to play 1-3? Same with God of War?

You should play Uncharted 1-3 since they are really good and Uncharted 4 is a finale game to them. GoW is less needed to play the first 3.


What's a good game to play with my wife who is not a gamer? I need to get her on board with the purchase :)

Sackboy.

 

[Cactuar]

You can skip straight to U4, yes. But I recommend getting the UC and at least playing 1-3 on easy to get to know the story and characters, as they are very much a part of what makes the series special. Plus, U2 and U3 are still gems to this day.

For your wife? Fall Guys is fun, and Until Dawn will really pull her in.

 

[Wil Grieve]

I would recommend playing Uncharted 1-3 before playing 4. 4 is supposed to be the ending of the Uncharted Saga and you'll miss out.

God of War, no. There's maybe one or two moments that will impact you less, but overall you can jump right in.

 

[Magog]

I recommend playing all the Uncharted games and be sure not to miss Lost Legacy which is the best one IMO. Also play The Last of Us series ASAP.

 

[Napalm_Frank]

Questions
Can I skip straight to Uncharted 4 or will I need to play 1-3? Same with God of War?
What's a good game to play with my wife who is not a gamer? I need to get her on board with the purchase :)

Click to shrink...

You can skip but I think it's a better with God of War since it's a soft reboot and start of a new story while UC4 is the end of the story.

And yeah, as said above Until Dawn is potentially a good one for yer wife. It's part of the PS+ collection.

 

[Manta_Breh]

Questions
Can I skip straight to Uncharted 4 or will I need to play 1-3? Same with God of War?
What's a good game to play with my wife who is not a gamer? I need to get her on board with the purchase :)

Click to shrink...

Congrats on the new console op. PS5 ecosystem is a great and you'll catch up in no time.


But to answer those.


Honestly, I highly suggest you play UC 123 and then 4 + lost legacy .... There's a lot of character building and payoffs that come in the later game especially if you already have familiarity with the characters. Just play 1-3 on super easy explorer mode so you can go through the journey.


As for God of War ... I think you can safely skip them and just play the latest one, even though you will miss out on a few nuances of Krato's character but it's not a big deal nor a deal breaker.... Though I highly suggest you at least play 2 and 3 because they are amazing games and they hold up well, especially 3.

 

[Damien1990]

God of War is fine. I played it and it was my first.

With Uncharted, like the others have said, I recommend playing 1-3 first.

 

[Magog]

Show your wife Astro's Playroom.

 

[Acquiescence]

What's a good game to play with my wife who is not a gamer? I need to get her on board with the purchase :)

Click to shrink...

The Last Guardian yo, especially if she's an animal lover. Plus you'll be playing it on the PS5, so it'll actually run well.

 

[Temascos]

Play the Uncharted games in order of release! There's a lot of charm to the stories and you can just play through on the Easiest modes as sometimes the harder modes can get unfair in places.

In terms of other games that your wife can enjoy, sometimes people I know who aren't gamers have had fun with games like Heavy Rain, Until Dawn, etc.

 

[filkry]

I was really hoping the after-the-fold punchline would be that you just bought a PS3.

Congrats on the PS5 OP.

 

[angelgrievous]

If you don't care about the story just play 4. You can always go back if you want to.

sackboy s a good coop game.

 

[SuperHans]

Thanks for the feedback. Look like I'll have to get that Uncharted Nathan Drake collection (only 20 dollars, nice).

 

[Mass Effect]

Can I skip straight to Uncharted 4 or will I need to play 1-3? Same with God of War?

Click to shrink...

If you care anything for the story, you're going to be completely lost going straight into UC4 without playing the first 3.

Now if you don't give a shit about the story, then going into UC4 right away is fine.

 

[xxracerxx]

Keep an eye out for Captain of Outer Space threads on PSN sales. There are some great deals on games out there.

 

[Euler007]

Astro is perfect for your wife, she might also like Bugsnax. The PS plus collection has loads of great games. Miles Morales is excellent, upgrade to ultimate later to play SM:Remastered if you want more of it. Basically every first party game that came out on PS4 is a great choice (and loads of third party games of course). Infamous, Ghost of Tsushima, Day's Gone, all great.

I'd recommend playing the collection and waiting for sales to get the most bang for the buck.

 

[The Real Napsta]

I'd tell you to play MGS4 but....no BC.

 

[Ragnar]

What's a good game to play with my wife who is not a gamer? I need to get her on board with the purchase :)

Click to shrink...

These are all originally PS4 titles, but they're local co-op games that I played with my girlfriend who started off with virtually zero gaming experience, and she had a blast:

Unravel II (still her favourite game to date)
Swords of Ditto: Mormo's Curse (with permadeath off, so she could just partake in mindless smashing and pretty graphics)
Rayman Legends (this was the game which gradually made her enjoy more challenging experiences)

 

[Neon Octopus]

You've got a lot of great stuff to play! Sackboy or any of the little big planets are good, but I'd suggest Knack 2 to play with your wife. It has pretty great coop thats easy for non gamers (I've been playing it with my 4 year old son).

 

[ghostcrew]

Echoing others saying that you should play Uncharted 1-3 (especially U2 and 3) since they're just amazing games but you should be fine to just play God of War without needing to play earlier entries.

I've played all the God of War games and I couldn't remember anything about their stories going into 2018 and still loved it.

 

[Iwao]

Congrats.

- The console is massive and ugly (IMO) and wont fit in my TV unit. Thankfully I managed to hide it behind the TV.

Click to shrink...

This is the obvious setup in hindsight, tbh. Even if it's partially obscured by the TV, it fits quite well.

Can I skip straight to Uncharted 4 or will I need to play 1-3? Same with God of War?

Click to shrink...

You can but you shouldn't, especially with Uncharted. Play the Nathan Drake collection if you can (UC2 was the gold standard in third-person action-adventure at the time), and don't forget about Uncharted: The Lost Legacy... it's like a refined version of UC4 and is better paced, and a nice footnote to round out the series for now.

What's a good game to play with my wife who is not a gamer? I need to get her on board with the purchase :)

Click to shrink...

- Sackboy: fun cutesy platformer with local co-op.
- Until Dawn: cheesy choose-your-own-adventure horror game.

 

[Kaswa101]

OP you're in for a wild ride

 

[Fliesen]

"You should probably play 3 games to give you franchise fatigue before finally jumping into the best game"

Nah, go straight for Uncharted 4.
And go straight for GoW.

If you care anything for the story, you're going to be completely lost going straight into UC4 without playing the first 3.

Click to shrink...

This is absolutely not true.

 

[HighspeedRefleX]

Thanks for your impressions, enjoy.

 

[Lashley]

You're in for a good time, enjoy!

 

[Dizastah]

I'm damn near envious of you OP. And I've had every Playstation.

 

[Bunzy]

definitely just watch god of war 1 and 2 story then play the 3rd game. It was a remake on ps4. Then play the new game

 

[Perkin_Warbeck]

Uncharted: lord, that's a lot, asking him to play all three of those PS3 games first. I'd burn out looong before I got to 4. Just play 2 IMO (if that!). Three games is waaaay to much climbing and bad shooting gameplay. Also, those old games won't have so much wow factor any more to carry you along.

You just got a shiny PS5 and could jump into a Uncharted 1? Eh!

 

[kamineko]

whew, playing that ps+ collection for the first time is going to be nice

my non-gamer wife and I actually played a lot of diablo 3 together. she mostly had me manage the equipment. i think sackboy is a good choice

fwiw, i didn't like UC4 very much even though i'm a fan of the first three games. gameplay was great but the story bothered me a lot. and since a lot of it is unskippable... it probably won't bother you if you skip 1-3. it all had to do with how i felt about the characters and what i hoped to see. lost legacy is pure gold though

 

[the-pi-guy]

>Can I skip straight to Uncharted 4 or will I need to play 1-3? Same with God of War?

You probably can, but it will have more impact if you play a previous title at least. I would recommend playing Uncharted 2 for sure.

You can probably get away with watching the God of War story before playing.

 

[bionic77]

I would play Uncharted 2 and then go straight to 4.

You can watch a YT video on what happens for 1 and 3.

The series improved A LOT since the first one.

Depends on time and money though. They are all pretty good games. 2 will probably always be my favorite.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

It's depressing that i can't even tell you some PS3 games to play since that gen will stay in the 00's forever.
The fact that stuff like Metal Gear Solid 3 can't be played anywhere else in 2021 is depressing and it's something you should play :(

Is this on PS Now? If so, play that if you really wanna catch up.

Most console games probably have been ported to the PS4 so you'll be fine playing those.

Play Uncharted 1 to 3 before Uncharted 4. The first one aged really bad but with the 2nd one things get better. Also, play The Lost Legacy!!

 

[LongLivePlay94]

I would recommend playing through Uncharted 1 to 3 as well as previous God of War games because the emotional parts aren't going to hit you as hard if you don't know the full story and it does make a considerable difference. The transformation in Kratos as a character is unbelievable from his original outings where everybody gets a good stabbing to the unsure father who is constantly doubting himself as a parent even though he's actually - and I never thought I would say this from the originals - doing a decent job.

I actually got teary eyed and happily weaped as I finished Uncharted 4. Not because I was sad but because I loved those characters and it dawned on me that I'd be playing these games for ten years and the story, as far as we know, had come to an end.

You can't get to that level of involvement without doing so, I think. But if you're looking for any suggestions, please fire away. I'm sure we've all got ideas.

 

[Lydecker]

Can I skip straight to Uncharted 4 or will I need to play 1-3? Same with God of War?

You should play Uncharted 1-3 since they are really good and Uncharted 4 is a finale game to them. GoW is less needed to play the first 3.


What's a good game to play with my wife who is not a gamer? I need to get her on board with the purchase :)

Sackboy.

Click to shrink...

What an absolute joy it must be to play and experience Uncharted 1-4 for the first time...

 

[m0therzer0]

Uncharted: lord, that's a lot, asking him to play all three of those PS3 games first. I'd burn out looong before I got to 4. Just play 2 IMO (if that!). Three games is waaaay to much climbing and bad shooting gameplay. Also, those old games won't have so much wow factor any more to carry you along.

You just got a shiny PS5 and could jump into a Uncharted 1? Eh!

Click to shrink...

Echoing this. I tried playing Uncharted 1 for the first time recently with the collection and found it a huge bore. I got half through it and never came back, and it's not as though I don't like action games. Uncharted 1 really just didn't age well. Maybe go back to it if you like the others?

 

[m0therzer0]

I would recommend playing through Uncharted 1 to 3 as well as previous God of War games because the emotional parts aren't going to hit you as hard if you don't know the full story and it does make a considerable difference. The transformation in Kratos as a character is unbelievable from his original outings where everybody gets a good stabbing to the unsure father who is constantly doubting himself as a parent even though he's actually - and I never thought I would say this from the originals - doing a decent job.

I actually got teary eyed and happily weaped as I finished Uncharted 4. Not because I was sad but because I loved those characters and it dawned on me that I'd be playing these games for ten years and the story, as far as we know, had come to an end.

You can't get to that level of involvement without doing so, I think. But if you're looking for any suggestions, please fire away. I'm sure we've all got ideas.

Click to shrink...

Come on now, the story of Kratos for the earlier games was essentially "Kratos gets mad" followed by "Kratos gets madder" until finally culminating with "Kratos gets really, really mad". They're great games, but you could turn the volume off and not miss a beat.

 

[Thera]

he's actually - and I never thought I would say this from the originals - doing a decent job.

Click to shrink...

From the monster he is, probably.
Generally speaking, oh no, that's terrible. I really hope that wasn't your own experience...

 

[maximumzero]

Someday I'll get my first Playstation.

Maybe.

 

[Perkin_Warbeck]

If you want to play an old God of War, just play the 3 remaster they put out on PS4. That's more than enough to see what they were like.

 

[LongLivePlay94]

Come on now, the story of Kratos for the earlier games was essentially "Kratos gets mad" followed by "Kratos gets madder" until finally culminating with "Kratos gets really, really mad". They're great games, but you could turn the volume off and not miss a beat.

Click to shrink...

I respectfully disagree. I mean the whole section in Helheim won't have the same impact because you won't know the full story about Zeus and Kratos. You'll have a brief sort of this is what I did at the end but it doesn't have the same tension every time Atreus and Kratos talk and Atreus is disgusted at the actions of gods even though Kratos was just as bad. The significance of Athena wouldn't be the same. You would understand the full reasons as to why Kratos came to Midgard, the events that led up to it and the significance around the Blades of Chaos, not just these are a part of my past and I'm free now. The fact that Kratos had a previous family. Or why Kratos is so distrustful of the gods because they used him as a pawn in their plans?

I'm not saying that you won't understand anything if you didn't play them but it would be very beneficial. I get what you're saying in essence, the games were 90% game play of fighting, stomping, smashing, platforming and puzzles but knowing the story I think made God of War a better experience for me than it would have, had I not known these things.

I feel like you've over simplified the story there.

From the monster he is, probably.
Generally speaking, oh no, that's terrible. I really hope that wasn't your own experience...

Click to shrink...

Well that depends how you mean. Was I raised by a single parent from a cabin in the woods? No.

But was is my dad similar to Kratos? I would say yes. I draw many similarities. My dad's relationship with his dad was also very complicated. My dad was the oldest of four siblings and had to take responsibility for them in a time when it was common to be on the wrong side of a belt if you made the simplest mistakes. My dad was a horrible person in his youth being a part of a well known gang who did very nasty things but he had to grow up very quickly. He's been through a lot in his life and I don't know the full story, nor would I press him to find out the details.

My dad and I have had our moments where it's gotten physical and heated but he's never beaten or abused me but I wouldn't say we have the closest relationship. He practiced tough love and was more hands off. He didn't take me to the football even though he was a big fan himself. He never played on my PlayStation with me and he has no interest in my taste in films or music. But he made sure that I was safe, had a roof over my head, some luxuries, food in my belly, clothes on my back and that he would protect me from harm if he could. He became more paternal with me when I had my son.

But I can relate to the way that Kratos had that hands off situation with Atreus and how he spent more time with his mother because I was the same. My dad didn't hate me, far from it. I felt that way at times but when he needed to come through he would. He loves my mum a lot and has a deep respect for her but my mum is alive and well so he hasn't had to go through the situation of having to say goodbye to his wife.

But the relationship between Kratos and Atreus evolved so much that at the end of the game it was evident how much Atreus meant to him and how much he loved him. He wouldn't let any one hurt him, the fights with Baldur proved that. He was proud of him and he opened up the closer they grew together. He taught him his skills, shared his history and was brutally open and honest with him sharing his darkest secrets. The relief he must have felt before they went up the mountain must have been unbelievable and Atreus didn't understand even a portion of why it was significant to Kratos as a character.

From say the last fight with Baldur when they come together and really fight like a team until the ending when they accomplish their mission and return home, you see a very different relationship between the two and a very different Kratos. A man who learned to show love and compassion and how to raise a son from the angry savage warrior who lived to destroy, whom once upon a time would have just murdered everything in Midgard before going home and putting a sign on his door that said leave me alone or speak to Greece to discuss consequences. What I mean to say is that he started off as a debatable figure as a father and ended the game quite respectable.

Like Christopher Judge said in his interview about how he got into the shoes of the character, the big question he asked himself in his performance was how does a man father a son when he hasn't been fathered? It's a really deep thought.

 

[PapaGoob]

I, too, just came back to PlayStation since the PS2. I've played a couple PS3 exclusives at a friends house but outside of that I've been completely a PC gamer. Since the pandemic I've had a really tough time getting the motivation to play games on the PC since I now work from home and sitting at my desk any longer than my workday is not something I really want to do. So I decided to go all out for console gaming again.

I picked up a PS5 and LG CX TV and my lord, what a fabulous time I've been having. OLED and HDR gaming is fantastic. PC monitors just can't compare to what a great TV can do. Just about finished with God of War and will be jumping onto Bloodborne next. I still need to try Astro's Playroom.

 

[RowdyReverb]

OP, the PS5 was my first Playstation ever. I played PS1/PS2 at friends' houses only, but was personally into Sega/Xbox/Nintendo. But I already have an Xbox One X, so seemed like a good time to check out the competing console. So far, I've really been impressed with TLOU: Remastered. Holds up great for an older game. The Spider-Man games were great, as was Ghost of Tsushima.

Reading this thread, I'll probably do God of War and the Uncharted series next. I'm holding off on TLOU2 and Horizon Zero Dawn because I think they'll end up getting PS5 enhancements later on like God of War did.

 

[Huey]

- The PS Plus Collection is great value since I have played none of the exclusives on there. Looking forward to Bloodborne, Uncharted 4, God of War, The last of Us, and The last Guardian.

Click to shrink...

This is mind-blowing - such an amazing collection of games, I can't imagine walking into all of them brand new. Congrats.

 

[SuperHans]

This is mind-blowing - such an amazing collection of games, I can't imagine walking into all of them brand new. Congrats.

Click to shrink...

After signing up for PlayStation plus I now have 24 games on my account. Great way to start off.

I, too, just came back to PlayStation since the PS2. I've played a couple PS3 exclusives at a friends house but outside of that I've been completely a PC gamer. Since the pandemic I've had a really tough time getting the motivation to play games on the PC since I now work from home and sitting at my desk any longer than my workday is not something I really want to do. So I decided to go all out for console gaming again.

I picked up a PS5 and LG CX TV and my lord, what a fabulous time I've been having. OLED and HDR gaming is fantastic. PC monitors just can't compare to what a great TV can do. Just about finished with God of War and will be jumping onto Bloodborne next. I still need to try Astro's Playroom.

Click to shrink...

This is exactly how I feel. All day at the PC doing work massively reduces the appeal of staying in the same spot to play.

 

[beau_beaumont]

I would pick up sackboy to play with your wife. Some levels might be kind of hard since she's not a gamer since you share five lives per level between all players, but it is a lot of fun and my own wife enjoys it quite a bit.